The Insatiable Appetite of Tarrare

Tarrare was an 18th century Frenchman with an absolutely unexplainable and insatiable appetite. His unfulfilling cravings were so fantastically horrid that his parents turned him away at the age of 17 and he promptly joined a freak show. Tarrare could easily “eat a meal intended for 15 men,” and would consume anything – literally anything – put in front of him ranging from rocks to live animals.

When Tarrare was hospitalized later in his life, he agreed to adhere to literally any treatment that would help him. Doctors treated him with laudanum, wine vinegar, and tobacco pills without success. They fed him mass amounts of soft-boiled eggs in an attempt to satiate his appetite while they worked up a meal-plan, but their treatment was stopped short when Tarrere was caught by hospital staff drinking the drained blood of patients and a 14-month-old child mysteriously “disappeared.” His autopsy found that his stomach took up most of his gut and that he had a massively fatty liver. His organs were in such bad shape that the chief surgeon called off the post-mortem examination prematurely. His disturbing appetite was never explained.